Be careful wiring new pickups - the diagram with mine was wrong!

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

I recently started a thread on my new Benedetto B7 pickup. I got it from Djangobooks. It came with a wiring diagram that was clearly wrong because mine has 3 wires - white, black, and bare - but the diagram is for a pickup with 4 leads plus a bare ground wire. So I called Duncan (who make these) and was told by the guy who answered the tech line that all B6s and B7s have two pairs plus ground. After I described it, explained that it was brand new and told him where I got it, he allowed as how production must have changed it but not told him. He instructed me to connect the white wire to the end pot lug and ground the black one and the bare one to the pot case. This is wrong too. It turns out that the black wire is the hot output lead, but that's not the end of the story.

I switched the black and white wires and it worked......but that's not the end of the story either. The pickup was noisy, which I didn't expect from this design. So I took the guitar apart again, rechecked everything, resoldered my joints, and had exactly the same situation. The tone was great, but the output seemed a bit lower than I expected and it was truly noisy at higher volumes. I figured it might be some EMF from the multiple computers and amplifiers in my music room, so I left it alone to see how it'd be on stage.

I played my first show with it last night, and it oozed the sound of Fender! It was as noisy as an old Strat, and the noise was positional - if I sat at a certain angle and tipped the guitar forward a bit, it was minimal. I got through the night OK and figured I'd call Djangobooks this morning to see if Michael wanted to exchange it. I did that, only to learn that they're closed for spring break! So I figured I'd try Benedetto and see if someone there had advice. Jackson Evans answered the phone and solved the problem for me. The white wire is a coil splitter - it's connected to the internal junction of the two coils and can be grounded through a switch if you want a coil split option. When the white wire is grounded, it's a single coil pickup.....and it oozes the vintage sound of Fender!

I just redid it properly, and it's fine - the sound is glorious! It's even fuller and richer than it was in SC mode, and it's obviously louder running on both coils. But the string balance remains excellent so the low A is just another string. There's no boominess at all, and it even has a little wood in the tone now. Jackson sent me their wiring diagram, which I post to help others avoid this problem. If your humbucker sounds like a single coil, it may be wired incorrectly.

[Jimmy Mack]

I've also had wiring diagrams that were correct on paper, but didn't work out! Different coloring on wires, had to reverse things, etc. Good thing to have patience and understanding. All without coil tapping or phase reversal - just basic hookups!

So now, I never assume. I hurry to re-assemble a project - but I always am in doubt. So I test before if i CAN.

My last experience was with a brand new HB pickup. Installed it and it buzzed, and sounded like the brightest single coil you ever heard. It was microphonic, and scratchy. Not what you want on an L5 CES. Dismantled it, re-did the install, and it was the same, except for one position where it sounded fabulous. So I knew I was on the right track, with the wrong P/U.

I had others to swap in, and they performed perfectly, so I knew it was not my soldering or wiring. The P/U was clearly defective. I think the cover must have been touching the bobbins.

So I received a new set of the same P/ups, same wiring, same installer, and they are magnificent.

So, I never assume anymore.

[Zigracer]

Jackson is a good guy - and a great player. Glad you got this sorted out.

[TedBPhx]

I installed the Benedetto S6 that came from Django Books. Don’t remember any issues. I followed the wiring diagram that came with it.

[Jimmy blue note]

Also be aware that the colour coding used by Gibson applies to Duncan. DiMarzio replacements should be noted use a different colour system for their wires. For example a 1 to 1 replacement of red black green and white wires from a Gibson will be straightforward when using a Duncan pickup, but not so for DiMarzio especially if you're using any 4 lead (coil splitting, series/parallel, single/humbucking) options.

So even more confusing if you're replacing Asian pickups with unknown origin...and even more confusing if you're doing anything like...when Ibanez switched from using Duncan as their high end pickup to DiMarzio a few years ago; lower end pickups are their own thing.

Pickup Wire Colors Cross Reference Chart
– Mad Hatter Guitar Products

[339 in june]

Just to mention that this may happen also with transformers.
I experienced that when building my 5F1 clone. (Colors inverted on 2 wires)
It took me a while to sort it !

[Woody Sound]

I had a horrible time figuring out Kent Armstong's hand-wound set-in paf.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Thanks for the chart, Jimmy. Unfortunately it’s also wrong, at least regarding the Benedetto S & B 6s & 7s. For the last 5+ years, they’ve had only black, white, and bare leads. Black is hot and white is the center tap. I just looked at the Duncan website to see if they caught up to their own changes, and they have not. Their descriptions of the pickups now describe the correct 2 conductor cable, but the wiring diagrams they show for those pickups are still the old 4 wire plus ground system.